Privacy Statement

This statement sets out how the Catholic Education Diocese of Parramatta (CEDP) collects, uses and discloses personal information through our schools, Catholic Early Learning Centres (CELCs), Catholic Out of School Hours Care services (COSHCs) and offices.

What personal information do we collect and how?

We collect personal information, including health information and other sensitive information, about:

students in our schools and children in our CELCs and COSHCs (together 'Students') and their parent/s, carer/s or guardian/s ('Parents') before, during and after enrolment

employees and volunteers ('Staff'), contractors and job applicants, and

other people who come into contact with us.

We will generally collect personal information via forms filled out by Parents or Students; file notes of face to face meetings, interviews or telephone calls; or correspondence with Parents or Students. Sometimes we may be provided with personal information by a third party, for example via a medical report or a reference from another school, care centre or an employer.

How will we use your personal information?

We will use your personal information for the primary purpose for which it was collected and for such other secondary purposes that are related to the primary purpose and reasonably expected.

We may use the personal information of Students and Parents:

to assess enrolment applications, including assessing possible risks associated with known behaviour to safety of Students and Staff

to facilitate a smooth transition of Students to our schools, CELCs and COSHCs, which may include a health and allergy management plan, preparing a behaviour management plan or other appropriate strategies aimed at meeting the particular needs of the Student

to keep Parents informed about a Student's care, education and development

to perform day to day administration

to provide for Students' educational, social, spiritual and medical well-being and a safe learning environment

to obtain donations and market our services

to prepare State and national reports, and

to discharge our schools', CELCs' and COSHCs' duty of care and our other legal obligations.

We may use the personal information of Staff and contractors:

to administer employment processes and contracts

to enable our Staff and contractors to work together with our schools, CELCs and COSHCs

to obtain funds and market our services

to provide a safe working and learning environment

to discharge our legal obligations, and

for insurance purposes.

We will also use the information for any purpose to which you have consented or that is required or authorised by law.

Photos

Photos/video/audio of Students are used for various communication media including CEDP, school, CELC, COSHC and Catholic Education Office websites, publications, newsletters, and enrolment posters. If any Parent does not want their child’s photo used in any of the above situations please inform the principal of the school the CELC director or the COSHC supervisor, as applicable.

To whom might we disclose your personal information?

We may share personal information between our schools, CELCs, COSHCs and offices, and to:

another school or care center to which a student transfers

government departments

the local parish of the school, CELC or COSHC or your local parish

medical practitioners

organisations which assist us with fundraising and marketing, for example a school's parish, foundation or alumni organisation

recipients of school publications like school newsletters and magazines

Parents

anyone you authorise us to disclose information to, and

anyone to whom we are required or authorised to disclose the information by law, including to discharge our duty of care.

Why do we use and disclose information for marketing and fundraising?

Marketing and donations play an important part in creating current and future learning and caring environments in our schools, CELCs and COSHCs. For these reasons we may disclose personal information to organisations which assist us with fundraising, for example the school's parish, foundation or alumni organisation.

Parents' Occupation And Education - National Goals For Schooling

Information about Parents' occupations and education is accessed by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) to meet the government’s National Goals for Schooling in the 21st century. These state that the achievement of students in schools should not be affected by discrimination based on sex, language, culture and ethnicity, religion or disability; or by differences arising from social and economic background or geographic location. The goals also state that 'the learning outcomes of educationally disadvantaged students [should] improve and, over time, match those of other students'.

To help schools to achieve these goals, all Parents across Australia, no matter which school their child attends, are asked to provide information about family background. The main purpose of collecting this information is to promote an education system that is fair for all Australian students regardless of their circumstances.

We use the information to evaluate whether our policies are effective and to ensure that no group is experiencing undue disadvantage.

Providing information about Parents' occupation and education is voluntary, but Parents' information will help us to ensure that all students are being well served by our schools.

When will we send information overseas?

We will not send personal information outside Australia without:

the consent (express or implied) of the individual, or their Parent where necessary,
or

otherwise complying with the Australian Privacy Principles or other applicable privacy legislation.

Our schools', CELCs', COSHCs' and office email systems are provided through Google Apps. Consequently emails and email account details may be transferred, stored and processed in the United States or any other country utilised by Google.

Our schools use a range of contemporary learning tools and latest technologies including Web 2.0 tools, Hubworks, cloud-based web services and apps for education. We may provide personal information to the relevant service provider in connection with the provision of these services. The service providers may be located, or store and process information, outside Australia, including in the United States, Singapore and Ireland.

Management and Security of Personal Information

We have in place steps to protect the personal information we hold from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure by various methods such as locked storage of paper records and password access rights to electronic records. Wherever possible we require third parties with whom we exchange personal information to observe the Australian Privacy Principles.

We endeavour not to store personal information for longer than necessary.

Access and Correction of Personal Information

You may access information we hold about you and request that it be updated or corrected. Such requests should be made in writing to the school principal or the CELC director or the COSHC supervisor (as applicable) or the relevant director of service at the Catholic Education Office. We may require you to verify your identity and specify what information you require. We may charge you a fee to access your information to cover expenses of verifying your application and locating, retrieving and copying relevant records. If the information sought is extensive, we will advise the likely cost in advance. We will not charge you for the request or correction of your personal information.

There may be occasions when access to information is denied. Such occasions may include where the disclosure of information may have an unreasonable impact on others, for example if the disclosure breaches a school's duty of care or the privacy of others. In certain circumstances, we may also refuse access to, or correction of, employee records applying exemptions under the Privacy Act.

Consent and Right of Access to Personal Information Of Students by Parents

We treat consent given by Parents relating to personal information about Students as consent given by the Student and notices relating to personal information about Students given to Parents as notices given to the Student. An exception to this is when independently of Parents we may, at our discretion:

give information we hold about a Student to that Student at his/her request, or

allow a Student to give or withhold consent to release personal information about that Student.

This would normally be done only when the Student is of sufficient maturity and his/her personal circumstances warrant it.

There may be occasions where a Parent's access to their child's personal information is denied. Such occasions would include where release of the information would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others, or where the release may result in a breach of a school's, CELC's or COSHC's duty of care to the Student.

How do we treat sensitive information?

We will only use and disclose sensitive information for the purpose for which it was provided or for a directly related secondary purpose, unless you agree otherwise or the disclosure is permitted by law.

complaints

If you believe that we, including through one of our schools, CELCs or COSHCs, have contravened the Australian Privacy Principles and wish to complain, please contact the school, CELC or COSHC in the first instance if you are a Student or a Parent. Otherwise contact: